£60 in aid of the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal, selling ‘Mary Cakes’, our version of traditional fairy cakes. 

The Mary’s Lamp girls’ group was set up by River Isaac, our first Child Ambassador. She and the group recently delivered a power point presentation about Mary Clarke to a packed school assembly and were determined to launch our new Mary Cakes. 

They spent hours baking their Mary Cakes and preparing a Guess-the-Number-of-Sweets competition to draw children and adults to the stall. They handed out leaflets to parents and explained to them why Mary is important. We were thrilled to see how interested other children were (boys as well as girls) and how many already knew about Mary. 

Many younger children were fascinated by our life size ‘cut out’ of the proposed statue and asked to be photographed with it. Others loved the life-size model of Mary’s lamp, which was kept on the stall near the cakes, to remind us why we were there.

Jean Calder, Chair of the Appeal said:

“I was so impressed by the girls’ enthusiasm and commitment – and the support they received from their parents and the school. The girls were determined to sell all the cakes and succeeded. We are so grateful to them all. We are confident the Mary’s Lamp group will go from strength to strength.”

The title Mary’s Lamp’ I was inspired by the lamp which is

depicted at Mary’s feet in Denise Dutton’s design for the statue. Mary is shown at the end of her life having laid down the lamp for others to take up. This idea springs from the words of  prominent local suffragette Isabella McKeown, who spoke at Mary’s memorial meeting on 6th January 1911, in the Royal Pavilion, telling the suffragettes not to “mourn in silence”, but to “take the torch from her and light the darkness”. These words will be written at the base of the statue, amongst other key quotes. We have found that young people, in particular, find Isabella’s words very inspiring. This was certainly true for River Isaac, who chose this title for the group. 

her teacher to organise an on-line sculpture class about Mary Clarke for Balfour School in Brighton.

This we did and subsequently asked River to become our first Child Ambassador for the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal. Since then she has helped us with fundraising events and lobbied councillors on our behalf. 

River has been very inspired by Mary’s courage. In particular, she tells us, she was struck by Isabella McKeown’s words after Mary’s death, when she told fellow suffragettes not to mourn Mary in silence, but to “..take the torch from her and light the darkness”. These striking words have fired many people’s imaginations, including that of our sculptor.

Denise Dutton’s design for the statue shows Mary in the last days of her life, standing tall, but having laid down a lamp for others to pick up.

Now, with the support of Balfour School’s head teacher and other senior staff members, River has set up a girls’ group at her school, which she has called Mary’s Lamp. All its members are nine years old and are in Year 4.

The girls have started to meet regularly, and recently, led by River, they recently delivered a very successful power point presentation about Mary Clarke to two full assemblies at the school. They took along photos, leaflets and badges and, most importantly, our resin maquette of Mary and a realistic  model of the lamp itself, both of which were made by Denise Dutton. 

Addressing hundreds of fellow students must have been

daunting, but the girls took it in their stride. Teachers have told us the presentations were extremely successful. 

We are lost in admiration and so grateful to the girls and their teachers. We hope that other primary schools will follow their example, finding a way to tell Mary’s story, while at the same time encouraging and empowering girls – and teaching all children about the importance of women’s rights and democracy.

We are thrilled to have been invited to have a stall at Balfour School’s Summer Fair on 16th July.